By DR. SALLY ROBINSON
In the May issue of the journal Pediatrics, there is a discussion on the exposure of laundry and dishwasher detergents in the United States from 2013-2014. Their review showed that the number of children exposed to detergent increased over the study period time. This increase was mostly with laundry detergent packets and dishwasher detergent packets. They also found that the clinical effects such as hospitalization, intubation and serious medical outcomes were significantly higher for laundry detergent packets than for other types of detergents.
The consequences of powder detergent exposure include vomiting and mouth and esophageal burns. Exposure to laundry detergent packets by young children can cause central nervous system depression, upper and lower airway injuries (burns to the mouth and throat and inflammation of the lungs), corneal injuries, respiratory depression and death. Another study that used Texas Poison Center Network data also showed that children exposed to laundry packets compared to those exposed to traditional laundry detergent had more serious outcomes.
At present there is a voluntary safety standard and there is not a requirement that the packets are individually wrapped as would be required by the Poison Prevention Packaging Act. There are some dishwashing detergent packets that come individually wrapped so it is reasonable to think that the public would not find this too inconvenient and would continue to purchase the product.
Detergents should be stored up and out of sight of children and in a locked cabinet to help prevent exposure. When detergents are in use, parents and child caregivers should not leave the product accessible to children. Households with children ages 6 and younger should be encouraged to use traditional laundry detergent rather than those beautiful colored packets of laundry detergent.
Sally Robinson is a clinical professor of pediatrics at UTMB Children’s Hospital. This column isn’t intended to replace the advice of your child’s physician.